A must-see off-Broadway masterpiece, before it leaves New York City.
I want to see God. I don’t want any more signs. I want to see His face.
— Russell Harvard, “Knox”
I didn’t know what to expect.
“I was most alive with you,” an off-Broadway show, captivated me with its use of two languages: English and American Sign Language.
The quick plot introduction, from Playwrights Horizon:
“Ash has a blessed life, thankful every day for the gifts of his family, his addiction, and his son’s Deafness. But on one fateful day, everything’s taken from him.”
But it’s more than just a piece about the way the world can keep hurling bad luck, and quite frankly, torture. It’s a deeper piece exploring themes and motifs around: addiction, communication, religion and faith, love, and resilience.
What made this piece unique: it spoke to an audience rarely represented, the deaf and hard-of-hearing. They brought the discussion of language and communication into a world of stigma and prejudice, shamelessly front-and-center underneath the spotlight.
At the top of the theater, there’s a balcony, where a second set of actors, dressed like the performers below, signed the entire play. But it wasn’t distracting. It added to my realization that language is creates powerful connections and a just as powerful barriers.
This is a deep review, I know.
But the basics are this: I cried, a lot. It took me by surprise. And the bit about faith and religion, touched my heart in ways that every person in the audience could understand, at one point or another, having questioned or still questioning God.
“Faith is the bridge between what you know and what you feel”
— Michael Gaston, “Ash”
My, how many times have I felt this tension in my life? Questions of travel, of my aunt passing, and of me wondering if I’m on the right path headed in the right direction. It’s a daily thought. For all of us.
And the play explores it in a way where the quirks of every character really reveal how complex each of these questions is. Especially when communicating in American Sign Language limits some of that expression.
A good section of the audience was deaf or hard of hearing. And most of us with the privilege to hear, I never really thought about how limiting it is for a person who’s deaf or hard-of-hearing to enjoy live theater productions. Well, I never had to.
Even sitting far away, with more reasonable ticket prices, there’s no way lip reading would have been possible. I don’t even know if I could have sitting in the front row. Which also makes a point, how many deaf or hard-of-hearing audience members have always had to find a way to sit in the front row?
Without giving away the ending, the beginning prayer dove deeply into exposing and reminding the audience perhaps how much corruption, self interest and selfishness much of the world has become. But those words gave me hope.
While Knox was using sign language to utter these words, there’s beautiful timing of closed captioning towards the top of the stage, but under the balcony of the actors performing entirely in sign language. But the words move and pace in such a way, I could still see the pain and the faith in Knox’s expression, while really studying the words above.
God / May I be a guard for those who need protection / A guide for those on the path / A boat / A raft / A bridge for those who wish to cross the flood. / May I be a lamp in the darkness / A resting place for the weary / A healing medicine for all who are sick / A vase of plenty / A tree of miracles / nd for the boundless multitudes of living beings. / May I bring sustenance and awakening / Enduring like the earth and sky / Until all beings are freed from sorrow and all are awakened / Amen.
— Russell Harvard, “Knox”
It is simply one of the most heartfelt and heartwrenching productions I’ve seen in awhile.
A must see. You won’t be disappointed.
Show info:
September 01, 2018 – October 14, 2018
Mainstage Theater
